The Roman Republic

/ ' ·'O' " . ,- '.

r· :.'

CHAPTER 4 The Roman Republic

FORUM IN ROME, The forum, a large rectangular space that served as a marketplace, was the center of a Roman city. In Rome itself, the forum evolved into a political center surrounded by large public buildings. (©Karen Tweedy-Holmes/Corbis) 100 Part One The Ancient World

from the creation of a multinational empire. The city of Rome was evolving into the city of humanity-the cosmopolis envisioned by the Stoics.

Polybius THE ROMAN ARMY

The discipline and dedication of the citizen-soldiers help explain Rome's suc­ cess in conquering a world empire. In the following account, Polybius (c. 200­ c. 118 B.C.) tells how the commanders enforced obedience and fostered heroism.

A court-martial composed of the tribunes im­ fence. The above are the offences which are mediately sits to try him [a soldier}, and if he punished as crimes. The following actions are is found guilty, he is punished by beating (jus­ regarded as unmanly and dishonourable in a tuarium). This is carried out as follows. The tri­ soldier: to make a false report to the tribune of bune takes a cudgel and lightly touches the your courage in the field in order to earn dis­ condemned man with it, whereupon all the tinction; to leave the post to which you have soldiers fall upon him with clubs and stones, been assigned in a covering force because of and usually kill him in the camp itself. But fear; and similarly to throwaway out of fear even those who contrive to escape are no better any of your weapons on the field of battle. For off. How indeed could they be? They are not this reason the men who have been posted to allowed to return to their homes, and none of a covering force are often doomed to certain their family would dare to receive such a man death. This IS because they will remain at their into the house. Those who have once fallen posts even when they are overwhelmingly out­ into this misfortune are completely and finally numbered on account of their dread of the ruined. The optio [lieutenant} and the decurio punishment that awaits them. Again, those [sergeant] of the squadron are liable to the who have lost a shield or a sword or any other same punishment if they fail to pass on the weapon on the battlefield often hurl them­ proper orders at the proper moment to the pa­ selves upon the enemy hoping that they will trols and the decurio of the next squadron. The either recover the weapon they have lost, or consequence of the extreme severity of this else escape by death from the inevitable dis­ penalty and of the absolute impossibility of grace and the humiliations they would suffer at avoiding it is that the night watches of the Ro­ home. man army are faultlessly kept. If it ever happens that a large body of men The ordinary soldiers are answerable to the break and run in this way and whole maniples tribunes [elected military administrators} and [units of 120 to 300 men} desert their posts the tribunes to the consuls [commanders}. A under extreme pressure, the officers reject the tribune, and in the case of the allies a prefect idea of beating to death or executing all who [commander of a large unit}, has power to are guilty, but the solution they adopt is as ef­ inflict fines, distrain on [confiscate} goods, and fective as it is terrifying. The tribune calls the to order a flogging. The punishment of beating legion [large military unit} on parade and to death is also inflicted upon those who steal brings to the front those who are guilty of hav­ from the camp, those who give false evidence, ing left the ranks. He then reprimands them those who in full manhood commit homosex­ sharply, and finally chooses by lot some five or ual offences, and finally upon anyone who has eight or twenty of the offenders, the number been punished three times for the same of­ being calculated so that it represents about a Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 101 tenth I of those who have shown themselves similar situation in which there is no necessity guilty of cowardice. Those on whom the lot has to engage in single combat, have voluntarily fallen are mercilessly clubbed to death in the and deliberately exposed themselves to danger. manner I have already described. The rest are At the storming of a city the first man to put on rations of barley instead of wheat, and scale the wall is awarded a crown of gold. In are ordered to quarter themselves outside the the same way those who have shielded and camp in a place which has no defences. The saved one of their fellow-citizens or of the al­ danger and the fear of drawing the fatal lot lies are honoured with gifts from the consul, threatens every man equally, and since there is and the men whose lives they have preserved no certainty on whom it may fall, and the pub­ present them of their own free will with a lic disgrace of receiving rations of barley is crown; if not, they are compelled to do so by shared by all alike, the Romans have adopted the tribunes who judge the case. Moreover, a the best possible practice both to inspire terror man who has been saved in this way reveres his and to repair the harm done by any weakening rescuer as a father for the rest of his life and of their warlike spirit. must treat him as if he were a parent. And so The Romans also have an excellent method by means of such incentives even those who of encouraging young soldiers to face danger. stay at home feel the impulse to emulate such Whenever any have especially distinguished achievements in the field no less than those themselves in a battle, the general assembles the who are present and see and hear what takes troops and calls forward those he considers to place. For the men who receive these trophies have shown exceptional courage. He praises not only enjoy great prestige in the army and them first for their gallantry in action and for soon afterwards in their homes, but they are also anything in their previous conduct which is singled Out for precedence in religious proces­ particularly worthy of mention, and then he sions when they return. On these occasions no­ distributes gifts such as the following: to a man body is allowed to wear decorations save those who has wounded one of the enemy, a spear; to who have been honoured for their bravery by the one who has killed and stripped an enemy, a cup consuls, and it is the custom to hang up the tro­ if he is in the infantry, or horse-trappings if in phies they have won in the most conspicuous the cavalry--originally the gift was simply a places in their houses, and to regard them as lance. These presentations are not made to men proofs and visible symbols of their valour. So who have wounded or stripped an enemy in the when we consider this people's almost obsessive course ofa pitched battle, or at the storming of a concern with military rewards and punish­ city, but to those who during a skirmish or some ments, and the immense importance which they attach to both, it is not surprising that they "This custom is the origin of the word decimate, from the emerge with brilliant success from every war in Latin decem, ten. which they engage.

REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. How did the Romans ensure good discipline among their soldiers? 2. What factors mentioned by Polybius help explain Rome's emergence as a great power? 'I !

102 Part One The Ancient World

2 The Punic Wars

In 264 B.C., Rome, which had just completed its conquest of Italy, went to war with Carthage, the dominant power in the western Mediterranean. A threat to the north Sicilian city of Messana (now Messina) was the immediate cause of the war. Rome feared that Carthage might use Messana as a springboard from which to attack the cities of southern Italy, which were allied to Rome, or to interfere with their trade. The First Punic War (264-241 B.C.) was a grueling conflict; drawing manpower from its loyal allies, Rome finally prevailed. Carthage surren­ . ~ dered Sicily to Rome, and three years later Rome seized the large islands of Cor­ sica and Sardinia, west of Italy, from a weakened Carthage.

Livy THE SECOND PUNIC WAR: THE THREAT FROM HANNIBAL

Carthaginian expansion in Spain led to the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.). The Carthaginian army was led by Hannibal (247-183 B.C.), whose military genius im­ pressed and frightened Rome. Hannibal brought the battle to Rome by leading his seasoned army, including war elephants, across the Alps into Italy. Hannibal demonstrated his superb generalship at the battle of Cannae in 216 B.C., where the Carthaginians destroyed a Roman army of sixty thousand. Hanni­ bal removed some ofhis soldiers in the center and commanded the thin line to re­ treat as the Romans charged. Believing that the enemy was on the run, the Romans continued their headlong thrust into the Carthaginian center. Then, ac­ cording to plan, Carthaginian troops stationed on the wings attacked the Roman flanks and the cavalry closed in on the Roman rear, completely encircling the Ro­ man troops. News of the disaster, one of the worst in the Republic's history, brought anguish to Romans, who feared that Hannibal would march on the cap­ ital itself. Adding to Rome's distress was the desertion of some of its Italian allies to Hannibal. In the following passage, the Roman historian Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17) describes the mood in Rome after Cannae.

... Never, without an enemy actually within consular armies annihilated, both consuls! dead, the gates, had there been such terror and con­ Rome left without a force in the field, without a fusion in the city [Rome]. To write of it is commander, without a single soldier, Apulia beyond my strength, so I shall not attempt to and Samnium [two provinces in southern Italy} describe what any words of mine would only in Hannibal's hands, and now nearly the whole make less than the truth. In the previous year a of Italy overrun. No other nation in the world consul and his army had been lost at Trasimene [location of an overwhelming defeat for Rome}, 1The consuls served dual offices as elected magis crates of and now there was news not merely of another Rome in peacetime and commanders-in-chiefof the Roman similar blow, but of a multiple calamity-two army. Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 103

could have suffered so tremendous a series of survive, they should inquire where they were, disasters, and not been overwhelmed. It was un­ where Hannibal went after the battle, what his paralleled in history: the naval defeat off the plans were, what he was doing, and what he was Aegates islands,* a defeat which forced the Carth­ likely to do next. The task of collecting this aginians to abandon Sicily and Sardinia and suf­ information should be entrusted to vigorous and fer themselves to pay taxes and tribute to Rome; active men. There was also a task, Fabius sug­ the final defeat in Africa to which Hanni­ gested, for the Senate itself to perform, as there bal himself afterwards succumbed-neither the was a lack of public officers: this was, to get rid one nor the other was in any way comparable to of the general confusion in the city and restore what Rome had now to face, except in the fact some sort of order. Women must be forbidden to that they were not borne with so high a courage. appear out of doors, and compelled to stay in The praetors- Philus and Pomponius sum­ their homes; family mourning should be checked, moned the Senate> to meet ... to consider the and silence imposed everywhere; anyone with defence of the City, as nobody doubted that news to report should be taken to the praetors, Hannibal, now that the armies were destroyed, and all individuals should await in their homes would attack Rome-the final operation to the news which personally concerned them. Fur­ crown his victory. It was not easy to work out thermore, guards should be posted at the gates a plan: their troubles, already great enough, to prevent anyone from leaving the city, and were made worse by the lack of firm news; every man and woman should be made to be­ the streets were loud with the wailing and weep­ lieve that there was no hope of safety except ing of women, and nothing yet being clearly within the walls of Rome. Once, he ended, the known, living and dead alike were being present noise and disorder were under control, mourned in nearly every house in the city. In then would be the proper time to recall the Sen­ these circumstances, Quintus Fabius Maximust ate and debate measures for defence. put forward some proposals: riders, he sug­ The proposals of Fabius won unanimous gested, lightly equipped, should be sent out support. The city magistrates cleared the along the Appian and Latin Ways5 to question crowds out of the forum and the senators went any survivors they might meet roaming the off to restore some sort of order in the countryside, and report any tidings they could streets.... get from them of what had happened to the con­ How much more serious was the. defeat at suls and the armies. If the gods, in pity for the Cannae than those which had preceded it can be empire, had suffered any of the Roman name to seen by the behaviour of Rome's allies: before that fatal day their loyalty had remained un­ shaken; now it began to waver, for the simple reason that they despaired of the survival of Ro­ *The end of the Firsr Punic war in 241 B.C. man power. The following peoples went over to 2Praerors were magistrates who governed the city of Rome when the consuls were absent. the Carthaginian cause: the Atellani, Calatini, 3The senate, originally drawn from rhe patrician caste, was Hirpini, some of the Apulians, all the Samnites the true ruler of Rome. It advised the magistrates on all except the Pentri, the Bruttii, the Lucanians, matters of public policy. 4Fabius (Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, nicknamed the Uzeritini, and nearly all the Greek settle­ "the Delayer," d. 203 B.C.) was elected consul several rimes, ments on the coast, namely Tarentum, Meta­ bur his tactics in trying to avoid pitched battles displeased ponrum, Croton, and Locri, and all the Gauls on the Romans. However, Fabius' successors were totally de­ feared at Cannae, and Fabius, elected consul for the fifrh the Italian side of the Alps. rime, recaptured Tarentum in 209. But neither the defeats they had suffered nor Hhe Appian Way, parts of which exist today, was the main the subsequent defection of all these allied peo­ highway from Rome sourhward ro Campania. The Larin Way (Via Larina), a parallel route, passed through hill ples moved the Romans ever to breathe a word rowns before rejoining the Appian Way. about peace.

-_.-....._------­ li"1 1 'ir I

104 Part One The Ancient World

Appian of Alexandria THE THIRD PUNIC WAR: THE DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE

Despite his brilliant victory at Cannae, Hannibal lacked the manpower to deal Rome a knockout blow, and the Romans, respecting Hannibal's generalship, re­ fused to engage his army in another major encounter. Finally, when Rome in­ vaded North Africa and threatened Carthage, Hannibal quit Italy to defend his homeland and was defeated at the battle of Zama in 202 B.C. Although Carthage, now a second-rate power, no longer posed a threat, Rome started the Third Punic War in 149 B.C. Driven by old hatreds and the traumatic memory of Hannibal's near conquest of Italy, Rome resolved to destroy Carthage. After Carthage fell in 146 B.C., Rome sold the survivors into slavery, obliterated the city, and turned the land into a province, which was named Africa. The savage and irrational behavior of Rome toward a helpless Carthage showed an early deterioration in senatorial leadership. In the following passage, Appian of Alexandria (A.D. 95-c. 165) describes the destruction of Carthage by the Romans under Scipio Aemilianus 085-129 B.C.).

Now Scipio hastened to the attack of Byrsa, the clear of burning material so that the army might strongest part of the city [of Carthage}, where move back and forth freely. the greater part of the inhabitants had taken Then came new scenes of horror. As the fire refuge. There were three streets ascending from spread and carried everything down, the soldiers the forum to this fortress, along which, on either did not wait to destroy the buildings little by lit­ side, were houses built closely together and six tle, but all in a heap. So the crashing grew louder, stories high, from which the Romans were as­ and many corpses fell with the stones into the sailed with missiles. They were compelled, there­ midst. Others were seen still living, especially old fore, to possess themselves of the first ones and men, women, and young children who had hid­ use those as a means of expelling the occupants den in the inmost nooks of the houses, some of of the next. When they had mastered the first, them wounded, some more or less burned, and they threw timbers from one to another over the uttering piteous cries. Still others, thrust out and narrow passageways, and crossed as on bridges. falling from such a height with the stones, tim­ While war was raging in this way on the roofs, bers, and fire, were torn asunder in all shapes of another fight was going on among those who horror, crushed and mangled. Nor was this the met each other in the streets below. All places end of their miseries, for the street cleaners, who were filled with groans, shrieks, shouts, and every were removing the rubbish with axes, mattocks, kind of agony. Some were stabbed, others were and forks, and making the roads passable, tossed hurled alive from the roofs to the pavement, with these instruments the dead and the living

·i t some of them alighting on the heads of spears together into holes in the ground, dragging them or other pointed weapons, or swords. No one along like sticks and stones and turning them dared to set fire to the houses on account of those over with their iron tools. Trenches were filled who were still on the roofs, until Scipio reached with men. Some who were thrown in head fore­ Byrsa. Then he set fire to the three streets all to­ most, with their legs sticking out of the ground, gether, and gave orders to keep the passageways writhed a long time. Others fell with their feet Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 105 downward and their heads above ground. Horses shed tears and publicly lamented the fortune of ran over them, crushing their faces and skulls, not the enemy. After meditating by himself a long purposely on the part of the riders, but in their time and reflecting on the rise and fall of cities, headlong haste. Nor did the street cleaners do nations, and empires, as well as of individuals, these things on purpose; but the rug of war, the upon the fate of Troy, that once proud city, upon glory of approaching victory, the rush of the that of the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Per­ soldiery, the orders of the officers, the blast of sians, greatest of all, and later the splendid the trumpets, tribunes and centurions I marching Macedonian empire, either voluntarily or other­ their cohorts hither and thither-all together wise the words of the poet escaped his lips:­ made everybody frantic and heedless of the spec­ "The day shall come in which our tacles under their eyes. sacred Troy Six days and nights were consumed in this kind And Priam.I and the people over of fighting, the soldiers being changed so that whom they might not be worn out with toil, slaughter, Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall want of sleep, and those horrid sights.... perish all." Scipio, beholding this city, which had flour­ (The Iliad, vi, 448, 449; Bryant's translation.) ished 700 years from its foundation and had ruled over so many lands, islands, and seas, rich Being asked by Polybius in familiar conversa­ with arms and fleets, elephants and money, tion (for Polybius had been his tutor) what he equal to the mightiest monarchies but far sur­ meant by using these words, he said that he did passing them in bravery and high spirit (since not hesitate frankly to name his own country, without ships or arms, and in the face of famine, for whose fate he feared when he considered it had sustained continuous war for three years), the mutability of human affairs. And Polybius nowcome to its end in total destruction­ wrote this down just as he heard it. Scipio, beholding this spectacle, is said to have lCenturions were noncommissioned officers, each com­ 2Priam, in Homer's epic poem The Iliad, was [he king of manding a hundred men; attached ro each legion were six Troy at the rime of [he Trojan War. military tribunes, who had been vored in by rhe cirizens of Rome in the general elections.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Describe the mood in Rome after the battle of Cannae. 2. After the Roman disaster at Cannae, what actions did Quintus Fabius Maximus propose? 3. What do you think prompted Scipio Aemilianus to quote the lines from Homer's Iliad?

3 The Spread of Greek Philosophy to Rome ~

One of the chief consequences of Roman expansion was growing contact with Greek culture. During the third century B.C., Greek civilization started to exercise an increasing and fruitful influence on the Roman mind. Greek teachers, both slave and free, came to Rome and introduced Romans to Hellenic cultural achievements. , i j 106 Part One The Ancient World

As they conquered the eastern Mediterranean, Roman generals began to ship li­ braries and works of art from Greek cities to Rome. Roman sculpture and painting imitated Greek prototypes. In time, Romans acquired from Greece knowledge of scientific thought, medicine, and geography. Roman writers and orators used Greek history, poetry, and oratory as models. Roman philosophers borrowed the ideas of Greek philosophical schools and adapted them to Roman culture.

Lucretius DENUNCIATION OF RELIGION

The writings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (see page 91) soon won admir­ ers in Rome. Lucretius (c. 96-c. 55 B.C.), the leading Roman Epicurean philoso­ pher, lived in a time of civil war, which was fostered by two generals, Marius and Sulla. Distraught by the seemingly endless strife, Lucretius yearned for philo­ sophical tranquillity. Like Epicurus, he believed that religion prompted people to perform evil deeds and caused them to experience terrible anxiety about death and eternal punishment. Like his mentor, Lucretius advanced a materialistic concep­ tion ofnature, one that left no room for the activity ofgods-mechanical laws, not the gods, governed all physical happenings. To dispel the fear ofpunishment after death, Lucretius marshaled arguments to prove that the soul perishes with the body. He proposed that the simple life, devoid ofpolitical involvement and exces­ sive passion, was the highest good. Epicurus' disparagement ofpolitics and public service and rejection of the goals of power and glory tan counter to the accepted Roman ideal of virtue. On the other hand, his praise of the quiet life amid a com­

1 i munity offriends and his advice on how to,deal with life's misfortunes with seren­ ity had great appeal to first-century Romans who were disgusted with civil strife. In the following selection from On the Nature ofThings, Lucretius expresses his hostility to religion and his admiration for Epicurus, "the first to stand firm in de­ fiance" of the fables about the gods.

When before our eyes man's life lay groveling, They whetted his keen mind with longing prostrate, to be Crushed to the dust under the burden of First to smash open the tight-barred gates of Religion Nature. (Which thrust its head from heaven, its His vigor of mind prevailed, and he strode far horrible face Beyond the fiery battlements of the world, Glowering over mankind born to die), Raiding the fields of the unmeasured All. One man, a Greek [Epicurus], was the first Our victor returns with knowledge of what mortal who dared can arise, 1 ! Oppose his eyes, the first to stand firm in What cannot, what law grants each thing its defiance. own Not the fables of gods, nor lightning, nor the Deep-driven boundary stone and finite scope. menacing Religion now lies trampled beneath our feet, '.i Rumble of heaven could daunt him, but all And we are made gods by the victory. the more Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 107

How the idea of gods spread to all nations, In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was com­ Stocking their cities with altars and making pelled to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. A seer had declared that the goddess Artemis men tremble demanded the sacrifice. For Lucretius, this To undertake the solemn rites, which flourish event illustrates how religion "gives birth to With all our luxury and magnificence evil and blasphemous deeds." (Even now sowing in us the seeds of horror, Urging us on to rear across the world New shrines to the gods to crowd on festival You hear these things, and I fear you'll think days), yourself Is not hard to explain in a few words. On the road to evil, learning the fundamentals In those days mortal men saw while awake Of blasphemy. Not so! Too often Religion The excellent countenances of the gods, Herself gives birth to evil and blasphemous Or rather in dreams they gasped at their vast deeds. SIze. At Aulis, for instance: the pride of the Greek Men lent sensation to these giant forms people, For they moved their limbs, it seemed, and The chosen peers, defiled Diana's! altar spoke proud words With the shameful blood of the virgin As arrogant as their beauty and great strength. Iphigenia. Eternal life they gave them, for their faces As soon as they tressed her hair with the ritual And their physiques persisted ever-present, fillet [headband}, And they thought that beings endowed with The tassels spilling neatly upon each cheek, such great power And she sensed her grieving father beside the Could never be put to rout by any force. altar They thought the gods preeminently blest, With the acolytes nearby, hiding the knife, For the fear of death could hardly trouble them; And countrymen weeping to look upon her­ Also because in dreams they saw them do mute Miraculous things, and many, without an effort. With fear, she fell to her knees, she groped for Then too they saw the systems of the sky the earth. Turn in sure order, and the changing seasons, Poor girl, what good did it do her then, that she But could not understand why this occurred. Was the first to give the king the name of Their refuge, then: assign to the gods all things, "father"? Have them steer all things with a single nod. Up to the altar the men escorted her, trembling: In the heavens they placed the holy haunts of Not so that when her solemn rites were the gods finished For through the heavens wheeled the night She might be cheered in the ringing wedding­ and the moon, hymn, The moon and the day, the night and night's But filthily, at the marrying age, unblemished stark signs, Victim, she feU by her father's slaughter­ And night-roaming torches of heaven and stroke.... gliding flames, Clouds, sun, storms, snow, high winds and hail and lighrning Lucretius attempts to explain why people came to believe in powerful gods. And the sudden growl and great and menacing rumble.

Unhappy human race-to grant such feats

1Diana was the Roman goddess of nature and protector of To gods, and then to add vindictiveness! women. 108 Part One The Ancient World

What wailing did they bring forth for Of the gods, whose limbs don't crawl with themselves, terror when What wounds for us, what tears for our The scorched earth under the terrible descendants! lightning bolt It's no piety to be seen at every altar, Quakes, and a grumbling rolls through the To cover your head and turn to the stone idol, great sky! Or to flatten yourself on the ground and lift Don't people and nations tremble, and your palms arrogant kings To the shrines, or to spray altars with the blood Cringe, stricken into shock by fear of the gods, Of cattle-so much!-or to string vow on vow. Lest for some foul deed done or proud word said To observe all things with a mind at peace The heavy time has come to pay the price? Is piety. For when we look up to the heavenly When a high hard gale across the plains of the Shrines of this great world, the stars that sea glitter, the sky Rakes a commander and his fleet along Studded, when we think of the journeying sun With all his mighty elephants and legions, and moon, Won't he beseech the "Peace of the Gods" in Then in hearts heavy-laden with other cares terror That Trouble is roused to boot, and rears its And pray for peaceful breezes and fair winds? head­ In vain, for the whirlpool's got him anyway ·~ That the limitless power ofgods, the power And borne him down unto the shoals of .~ ~, that wheels Death. •.:,' i " I S; The stars and planets, may be aimed at us. So thoroughly is human grandeur crushed i!~ Then ignorance assails the mind in doubt By a hidden force; the glorious rods and axes, i ~ About the universe's origin, Those splendid mockeries, are trampled under. About the end, how long the walls of the world Well, when the whole earth staggers underfoot Ii. , '~ Can suffer the straining of such stir and motion, And cities are battered and fall, or threaten to ~ Or whether, granted everlasting health fall, it By the gods, they can in endless course disdain What wonder if self-loathing seizes men

:I, .~ The turning age and the vast strength of time. And they grant wondrous power over all affairs .~ And worse, whose soul does not contract in fear To gods, to steer and rule the universe?

I Cicero ! ADVOCATE OF STOICISM

Il Marcus Tullius Cicero, a leading Roman statesman, was also a distinguished ora­ j I tor, an unsurpassed Latin stylist, and a student of Greek philosophy. His letters, more than eight hundred of which have survived, provide modern historians with valuable insights into late republican politics. His orations before the Senate I and law courts have been models of eloquence and rhetorical technique for stu­ dents of Latin and later European languages. 1 Like many other Romans, Cicero was influenced by the Greek philosophy of ,I,. , Stoicism (see page 136). Cicero adopted the Stoic belief that natural law governs the universe and applies to all and that all belong to a common humanity. The ; 'i gift of reason, which is common to all people, enables us to comprehend this nat­ ! ';

.! i· i . ~ l.. :: " - ---­ Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 109

ural law and to order our lives in accordance with its principles, which are un­ changeable and eternal. Natural law as understood by right reason commands peo­ ple to do what is right and deters them from doing what is wrong. Thus there is a unity of knowledge and virtue. For Cicero, the laws of the state should accord with the natural law underlying the universe. Adherence to such rationally formulated laws creates a moral bond among citizens and the peoples of all nations and states. In the following passage from his philosophic treatise The Laws, Cicero explored the implications of the Stoic concept of natural law.

... Now let us investigate the origins ofJustice. deuce, has been given a certain distinguished sta­ Well then, the most learned men have deter­ tus by the supreme God who created him; for he is mined to begin with Law, and it would seem the only one among so many different kinds and that they are right, if, according to their de­ varieties of living beings who has a share in reason finition, Law is the highest reason, implanted in and thought, while all the rest are deprived of it. Nature, which commands what ought to be But what is more divine, I will not say in man done and forbids the opposite. This reason, when only, but in all heaven and earth, than reason? And firmly fixed and fully developed in the human reason, when it is full grown and perfected, is mind, is Law. And so they believe that Law is in­ rightly called wisdom. Therefore, since there is telligence whose natural function it is to com­ nothing better than reason, and since it exists both mand right conduct and forbid wrongdoing. They in man and God, the first common possession of think that this quality has derived its name in man and God is reason. But those who have reason Greek from the idea of granting to every man his in common must also have right reason in com­ own, and in our language I believe it has been mon. And since right reason is Law, we must be­ named from the idea of choosing. For as they have lieve that men have Law also in common with the attributed the idea of fairness to the word law, so gods. Further; those who share Law must also we have given it that of selection, though both share Justice; and those who share these are to be ideas properly belong to Law. Now if this is cor­ regarded as members of the same commonwealth. rect, as I think it to be in general, then the origin If indeed they obey the same authorities and pow­ ofJustice is to be found in Law, for Law is a natural ers, this is true in a far greater degree; but as a mat­ force; it is the mind and reason of the intelligent ter of fact they do obey this celestial system, the man, the standard by which Justice and Injustice divine mind, and the God of transcendent power. are measured. But since our whole discussion has Hence we must now conceive of this whole uni­ to do with the reasoning of the populace, it will verse as one commonwealth of which both gods sometimes be necessaty to speak in the popular and men are members. manner, and give the name of law to that which in Moreover, virtue exists in man and God alike, written form decrees whatever it wishes, either by but in no other creature besides; virtue, however, command or prohibition. For such is the crowd's is nothing else than Nature perfected and devel­ definition of law. But in determining what Justice oped to its highest point; therefore there is a like­ is, let us begin with that supreme Law which had ness between man and God. As this is true, what its origin ages before any written law existed or relationship could be closer or clearer than this any State had been established. one? For this reason, Nature has lavishly yielded ... I shall seek the root of Justice in Nature, such a wealth of things adapted to man's conve­ under whose guidance our whole discussion nience and use that what she produces seems in­ must be conducted. tended as a gift to us, and not brought forth by ... [Tjhat animal which we call man, endowed chance; and this is true, not only of what the fer­ with foresight and quick intelligence, complex, tile earth bountifully bestows in the form of grain keen, possessing memory, full of reason and pru­ and fruit, but also of the animals; for it is clear that

..:.,,­ 110 Part One The Ancient World some of them have been created to be man's slaves, gle definition will apply to all. This is a sufficient some to supply him with their products, and oth­ proof that there is no difference in kind between ers to serve as his food. Moreover innumerable arts man and man; for if there were, one definition have been discovered through the teachings of could not be applicable to all men; and indeed rea­ Nature; for it is by a skilful imitation of her that son, which alone raises us above the level of the reason has acquired the necessities of life.... beasts and enables us to draw inferences, to prove . . . [O}ut of all the material of the philoso­ and disprove, to discuss and solve problems, and phers' discussions, surely there comes nothing to come to conclusions, is certainly common to us more valuable than the full realization that we are all, and, though varying in what it learns, at least born forJustice, and that right is based, not upon in the capacity to learn it is invariable. For the men's opinions, but upon Nature. This fact will same things are invariably perceived by the senses, immediately be plain if you once get a clear con­ and those things which stimulate the senses, stim­ ception of man's fellowship and union with his ulate them in the same way in all men; and those fellow-men. For no single thing is so like another, rudimentary beginnings of intelligence to which I so exactly its counterpart, as all of us are to one an­ have referred, which are imprinted on our minds, other. Nay, if bad habits and false beliefs did not are imprinted on all minds alike; and speech, the twist the weaker minds and turn them in what­ mind's interpreter, though differing in the choice ever direction they are inclined, no one would be of words, agrees in the sentiments expressed. In so like his own self as all men would be like all fact, there is no human being of any race who, ifhe others. And so, however we may define man, a sin­ finds a guide, cannot attain to virtue.

..~- ""

CATO THE ELDER: HOSTILITY TO GREEK PHILOSOPHY

Some conservative Romans were hostile to the Greek influence, which they felt threatened traditional Roman values. Cato the Elder (also the Censor; 234-149 B.C.) denounced Socrates for undermining respect for Athenian law and warned that Greek philosophy might lure Roman youth into similar subversive behav­ ior. The following passage from Plutarch's Lives (see page 90) shows Cato's hostility to Greek philosophy.

He was now grown old, when Carneades the Aca­ with admiration, heard them speak. But the demic, and Diogenes the Stoic, came as deputies gracefulness of Carneades's oratory, whose ability from Athens to Rome, praying for release from a was really greatest, and his reputation equal to it,

'\' penalty of fivehundred talents laid on the Atheni­ gathered large and favourable audiences, and ere ',: ans, in a suit, to which they did not appear, in long filled, like a wind, all the city with the sound which the Oropians were plaintiffs and Sicyoni­ of it. So that it soon began to be told that a Greek, ans! judges. All the most studious youth immedi­ famous even to admiration, winning and carrying ately waited on these philosophers, and frequently, all before him, had impressed so strange a love upon the young men, that quitting all their plea­ sures and pastimes, they ran mad, as it were, after philosophy; which indeed much pleased the Ro­ "The Oropians came from the town of Oropus in east cen­ teal Greece. Sicyonians came from the city of Sicyon in mans in general; nor could they but with much southern Greece. pleasure see the youth receive so welcomely the Chapter 4 The Roman Republic III

Greek literature, and frequent the company of his country, to undermine the ancient customs, learned men. Bur Care, on the other side, seeing and to entice and withdraw the citizens to opin­ the passion for words flowing into the city, from ions contrary to the laws. Ridiculing the school of the beginning took it ill, fearing lest the youth Isocrates.? he would add, that his scholars grew old should be diverted that way, and so should prefer men before they had done learning with him, as if the glory of speaking well before that of arms and they were to use their art and plead causes in the doing well. And when the fame of the philoso­ court of Minos in the next world. And to frighten phers increased in the city, and Caius Acilius, a his son from anything that was Greek, in a more person of distinction, at his own request, became vehement tone than became one of his age, he pro­ their interpreter to the senate at their first audi­ nounced, as it were, with the voice of an oracle, ence, Cato resolved, under some specious pre­ that the Romans would certainly be destroyed tence, to have all philosophers cleared out of the when they began once to be infected with Greek city; and, coming into the senate, blamed the literature; though time indeed has shown the van­ magistrates for letting these depuries stay so long ity of this his prophecy; as, in truth, the city of a time withour being despatched, though they Rome has risen to its highest fortune while enter­ were persons that could easily persuade the people taining Grecian learning. Nor had he an aversion to what they pleased; that therefore in all haste only against the Greek philosophers, but the something should be determined abour their peti­ physicians also; for having, it seems, heard how tion, that so they might go home again to their Hippocrates, when the king of Persia sent for him, own schools, and declaim to the Greek children, with offers of a fee of several talents, said, that he and leave the Roman youth to be obedient, as would never assist barbarians who were enemies of hitherto, to their own laws and governors. the Greeks; he affirmed, that this was now become Yet he did this not our of any anger, as some a common oath taken by all physicians, and en­ think, to Carneades; but because he wholly de­ joined his son to have a care and avoid them. spised philosophy, and out of a kind of pride scoffed at the Greek studies and literature; as, for 2Isocrates (436-338 B.C.) was an Athenian orator whose stu­ example, he would say,that Socrates was a prating, dents distinguished themselves as orators, historians, and seditious fellow, who did his best to tyrannise over statesmen.

REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Why was Lucretius critical of religion? 2. According to Lucretius, why did people first begin to believe in gods? Compare his view to that ofCritias on page 54. 3. What is Cicero's view on the nature of law and what conclusions does he derive from it? 4. Why does Cicero conclude that the sense of justice is common to all humans? What implication does he draw from this conclusion? 5. Why did Cato fear Carneades in particular and Greek thought in general?

4 Roman Slavery ~

Slavery was practiced in ancient times, in many lands and among most peoples. Al­ though conditions might vary in detail from place to place, essentially a slave was considered legally to be a piece of property, not a person with normal citizen's - 112 Part One The Ancient World

rights. Age, sex, skills, ethnic origin, demeanor, appearance, and personal charac­ ter determined a slave's value in the marketplace. The status of slave was usually hereditary, but a person might be enslaved for debt or as a penalty for crime. Pirates would kidnap and sell their captives as slaves. But the most common source of slaves was defeated people captured during wars. They were assigned to all kinds of work, and their labors were vital in sustaining the luxury and leisure of the Ro­ man upper classes. Even families of modest fortunes could usually afford a slave to do domestic chores, to help farm, or to assist in the family's business or craft.

Diodorus Siculus SLAVES: TORMENT AND REVOLT

The Roman war machine created hundreds of thousands of slaves during the last centuries of the Republic and the early centuries of the imperial age. Under the Republic, the Romans were notably harsh toward slaves; until the full influence of Greek Stoic philosophy penetrated the governing class, little was done to pro­ tect them from the absolute power of their Roman masters. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, describes the condition of Roman slaves toiling in silver and gold mines in Iberia (present-day Spain) and then tells of an uprising of slaves that lasted from 135 to 132 B.C.

THE ORDEAL OF SLAVES dying in large numbers because of the excep­ IN THE MINES tional hardships they endure. For no respite or pause is granted them in their labours, but com­ . . . After the Romans had made themselves pelled beneath blows of the overseers to endure masters of Iberia, a multitude of Italians have the severity of their plight, they throwaway their swarmed to the mines and taken great wealth lives in this wretched manner, although certain of away with them, such was their greed. For they them who can endure it, by virtue oftheir bodily purchase a multitude of slaves whom they turn strength and their persevering souls, suffer such over to the overseers of the working of the hardships over a long period; indeed death in mines; and these men, opening shafts in a num­ their eyes is more to be desired than life, because ber of places and digging deep into the ground, ofthe magnitude of the hardships they must bear. seek out the seams of earth which are rich in sil­ ver and gold; and not only do they go into the A SLAVE REVOLT IN SICILY ground a great distance, but they also push their diggings many stades [measure equalling about There was never a sedition of slaves so great as 607 feet} in depth and run galleries off at every that which occurred in Sicily, whereby many angle, turning this way and that, in this manner cities met with grave calamities, innumerable bringing up from the depths the ore which gives men ~nd women, together with their children, them the profit they are seeking.... experienced the greatest misfortunes, and all the But to continue with the mines, the slaves who island was in danger offalling into the power of are engaged in the working of them produce for fugitive slaves.... their masters revenues in sums defying belief, but ... The Servile [slave} War broke out for the they themselves wear out their bodies both by following reason. The Sicilians, having shot up in day and by night in the diggings under the earth, prosperity and acquired great wealth, began to Chapter4 The Roman Republic 113

purchase a vast number of slaves, to whose bodies, hands bound behind their backs, subjecting them as they were brought in droves from the slave to many outrages along the way. Only in the case markets, they at once applied marks and brands. of the couple's daughter were the slaves seen to The young men they used as cowherds, the others show consideration throughout, and this was be­ in such ways as they happened to be useful. But cause of her kindly nature, in that to the extent of they treated them with a heavy hand in their ser­ her power she was always compassionate and vice, and granted them the most meagre care, the ready to' succour the slaves. Thereby it was bare minimum for food and clothing.... demonstrated that the others were treated as they The slaves, distressed by their hardships, and were, not because of some "natural savagery of frequently outraged and beaten beyond all rea­ slaves," but rather in revenge for wrongs previ­ son, could not endure their treatment. Getting ously received. The men appointed to the task, together as opportunity offered, they discussed having dragged Damophilus and Megallis into the possibility of revolt, until at last they put the city, as we said, brought them to the theatre, their plans into action.... The beginning of the where the crowd of rebels had assembled. But whole revolt took place as follows. when Damophilus attempted to devise a plea to There was a certain Damophilus ofEnna {a city get them off safe and was winning over many of in central Sicily}, a man of great wealth but inso­ the crowd with his words, Hermeias and Zeuxis, lent of manner; he had abused his slaves to excess, men bitterly disposed towards him, denounced and his wife Megallis vied even with her husband him as a cheat, and without waiting for a formal in punishing the slaves and in her general inhu­ trial by the assembly the one ran him through the manity towards them. The slaves, reduced by this chest with a sword, the other chopped offhis head degrading treatment to the level of brutes, con­ with an axe. Thereupon Eunus was chosen king, spired to revolt and to murder their masters. Go­ not for his manly courage or his ability as a mili­ ing to Eunus {a Syrian slave believed to be a seer tary leader, but solely for his marvels and his set­ and magician} they asked him whether their re­ ting of the revolt in motion.... solve had the favour of the gods. He, resorting to Established as the rebels' supreme commander, his usual mummery, promised them the favour of he called an assembly and put to death all the cit­ the gods, and soon persuaded them to act at once. izenry ofEnna except for those who were skilled in Immediately, therefore, they brought together the manufacture of arms: these he put in chains four hundred of their fellow slaves and, having and assigned them to this task. He gave Megallis armed themselves in such ways as opportunity to the maidservants to deal with as they might permitted, they fell upon the city of Enna, with wish; they subjected her to torture and threw her Eunus at their head and working his miracle of the over a precipice. He himself murdered his own flames of fire for their benefit. When they found masters, Antigenes and Pytho. Having set a dia­ their way into the houses they shed much blood, dem upon his head, and arrayed himself in full sparing not even suckling babes. Rather they tore royal style, he proclaimed his wife queen (she was them from the breast and dashed them to the a fellow Syrian and of the same city), and ap­ ground, while as for the women-and under their pointed to the royal council such men as seemed husbands' very eyes-but words cannot tell the to be gifted with superior intelligence.... extent of their outrages and acts of lewdness! By ... In three days Eunus had armed, as best he now a great multitude of slaves from the city had could, more than six thousand men, besides oth­ joined them, who, after first demonstrating ers in his train who had only axes and hatchets, against their own masters their utter ruthlessness, or slings, or sickles, or fire-hardened stakes, or then turned to the slaughter of others. When Eu­ even kitchen spits; and he went about ravaging nus and his men learned that Damophilus and his the countryside. Then, since he kept recruiting wife were in the garden that lay near the city, they untold numbers of slaves, he ventured even to sent some of their band and dragged them off, do battle with Roman generals, and on joining both the man and his wife, fettered and with combat repeatedly overcame them with his

·:k 114 Part One The Ancient World

superior numbers, for he now had more than ten captured with all their inhabitants, and many thousand soldiers. armies were cut to pieces by the rebels, until Soon after, engaging in battle with a general Rupilius, the Roman commander, recovered Tau­ arrived from Rome, Lucius Hypsaeus [the Ro­ romenium [Taormina} for the Romans by plac­ man governor}, who had eight thousand Sicil­ ing it under strict siege and confining the rebels ian troops, the rebels were victorious, since they under conditions of unspeakable duress and now numbered twenty thousand. Before long famine: conditions such that, beginning by eat­ their band reached a total of two hundred thou­ ing the children, they progressed to the women, sand,I and in numerous battles with the Ro­ and did not altogether abstain even from eating mans they acquitted themselves well, and one another.... failed but seldom. As word of this was bruited Finally, after Sarapion, a Syrian, had betrayed about, a revolt of one hundred and fifty slaves, the citadel, the general laid hands on all the run­ banded together, flared up in Rome, of more away slaves in the city, whom, after torture, he than a thousand in Attica, and of yet others threw over a cliff. From there he advanced to in Delos [an island off the southeastern Enna, which he put under siege in much the Greek coast} and many other places. But thanks same manner, bringing the rebels into extreme to the speed with which forces were brought up straits and frustrating their hopes .... Rupilius and to the severity of their punitive measures, captured this city also by betrayal, since its the magistrates of these communities at once strength was impregnable to force of arms. Eu­ disposed of the rebels arid brought to their senses nus, taking with him his bodyguards, a thou­ any who were wavering on the verge of revolt. In sand strong, fled in unmanly fashion .... Sicily, however, the trouble grew. Cities were ... He met such an end as befitted his knav­ ery, and died at Morgantina [in central Sicily}. Thereupon Rupilius, traversing the whole of

iThe ancients often exaggerated numbers; the slaves proba­ Sicily with a few picked troops, sooner than had bly raised an army of some 70,000. been expected rid it of every nest of robbers.

Appian of Alexandria THE REVOLT OF SPARTACUS

In 73 B.C., gladiators led by Spartacus broke out of their barracks and were joined by tens of thousands of runaways. Sparracus aimed to escape from Italy to Gaul and Thrace, the homelands-Spartacus was a Thracian--of many slaves. The slave army, which grew to some 150,000, defeated Roman armies and devas­ tated southern Italy before the superior might of Rome prevailed. Some six thou­ . .~ sand ofthe defeated slaves were tortured and crucified on the road from Capua to Rome. The following account of the rebellion was written by Appian of Alexan­ dria in the second century A.D.

In Italy, at this same time, Spartacus, a Thracian tertainments at Capua, persuaded about seventy who had once fought against the Romans and af­ of his fellows to risk their lives for freedom rather ter being taken prisoner and sold had become a than for exhibition as a spectacle. With them, he gladiator in a troop which was kept to provide en- overpowered their guards and escaped. Then he I I I hlrq. Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 115 equipped himself and his companions with staves they were all slaves, deserters and human flot­ and daggers seized from travellers and took refuge sam). He seized the mountains around Thurii, on Mount Vesuvius, where he allowed many run­ together with the town itself, and then prevented away domestic slaves and some free farm hands traders bringing in gold and silver, barred his to join him. With the gladiators Oenomaus and own men from acquiring any, and bought exclu­ Crixus as his subordinates he plundered the sively iron and bronze at good prices without nearby areas, and because he divided the spoils in harming those who brought them. As a result equal shares his numbers quickly swelled. The they had plenty of raw material and were well first commander sent against him was Varinius equipped and made frequent raiding expedi­ Glaber, and the second Publius Valerius; instead tions. They again confronted the Romans in of legionary forces they had anyone they could battle, defeated them, and on that occasion too quickly conscript on the way, because the Romans returned to camp laden with booty. did not yet class the affair as a war, but as a kind The war had now lasted three years and was of raid akin to piracy, and they were defeated causing the Romans great concern, although at when they attacked him. Spartacus himself actu­ the beginning it had been laughed at and re­ ally captured Varinius' horse from under him; so garded as trivial because it was against gladiators. nearly was a Roman general taken prisoner by a When the appointment of other generals was gladiator. After this, people flocked in still greater proposed there was universal reluctance to stand, numbers to join Spartacus: his army now num­ and no one pur himself forward until Licinius bered 70,000 and he began to manufacture weap­ Crassus, distinguished both for his family and his ons and gather stores. wealth, undertook to assume the post, and led six The government in Rome now despatched the legions against Spartacus; to these he added the consuls with two legions. Crixus, at the head of two consular legions when he reached the front. 3,000 men, was defeated and killed by one of He immediately punished the latter for their re­ them at Mount Garganus, with the loss of two­ peated defeats', making them draw lots for every thirds of his force. Spartacus, who was eager to tenth man to be put to death. According to some, go through the Apennines to the Alpine regions, this was not what happened; instead, when he and then to Celtic lands from the Alps, was in­ himself had suffered defeat after engaging the en­ tercepted and prevented from escaping by the emy with his whole force he had them all draw other consul, while his colleague conducted the lots for the tenth place and put to death up to pursuit. But Spartacus turned on each of them 4,000 men without being in the least deterred by and defeated them separately. In the aftermath their numbers. Whatever the truth, he estab­ they retreated in confusion, while Spartacus, first lished himself in the eyes of his men as more to be sacrificing 300 Roman prisoners to Crixus, made feared than a defeat at the hands of the enemy, for Rome with 120,000 foot soldiers after burn­ and forthwith won a victory over 10,000 of ing the useless equipment and putting all the Spartacus' men who were encamped separately prisoners to death and slaughtering the draught somewhere. He killed two-thirds of them and animals to free himself of all encumbrances; and marched confidently against Spartacus himself. although a large number of deserters approached After winning a brilliant victory, he pursued him he refused to accept any of them. When the Spartacus as he fled towards the sea with the in­ consuls made another stand in Picenum, there tention of sailing across to Sicily, overtook him, was a further great struggle and on that occasion and walled him in with ditches, earthworks, and also a great Roman defeat. Spartacus, however, palisades. Spartacus then tried to force his way changed his mind about marching on Rome be­ our and reach the Sarnnire country, but Crassus cause he was not yet a match for the defenders killed almost 6,000 of his opponents at the be­ and his troops did not all have soldier's arms and ginning of the day and nearly as many more at equipment (no town had joined their cause, and evening, at the cost of three dead and seven 116 Part One The Ancient World wounded from the Roman army; so effective had with the cavalry which had by now arrived forced their punishment been in altering their will to a way through the encircling fortifications with win. Spartacus, who was waiting for some cavalry his whole army and retired towards Brundisium, that were on their way to him, no longer went with Crassus in pursuit. But when he discovered into battle with his full force, but conducted that Lucullus, who was on his way back from his many separate harassing operations against his victory over Mithridates, was there, he despaired besiegers; he made sudden and repeated sorties of everything and, at the head ofa still large force, against them, set fire to bundles of wood which he joined battle with Crassus. The fight was long, had thrown into the ditches, and made their work and bitterly contested, since so many tens ofthou­ difficult. He crucified a Roman prisoner in no­ sands of men had no other hope. Spartacus himself man's land ro demonstrate to his own troops the was wounded by a spear-thrust in the thigh, but fate awaiting them if they were defeated. When went down on one knee, held his shield in front of the government at Rome heard of the siege and him, and fought off his attackers until he and a contemplated the dishonour they would incur great number of his followers were encircled and from a protracted war with gladiators, they ap­ fell. The rest of his army was already in disorder pointed Pompeius, who had recently arrived from and was cut down in huge numbers; consequently Spain, ro an additional command in the field, in their losses were not easy to estimate (though the the belief that the task of dealing with Spartacus Romans lost about 1,000 men), and Spartacus' was now substantial and difficult. As a result of body was never found. Since there was still a very this appointment Crassus pressed on urgently large number of fugitives from the battle in the with every means of attacking Spartacus, to stop mountains, Crassus proceeded against them. They Pompeius stealing his glory, while Spartacus, formed themselves into four groups and kept up thinking to forestall Pompeius, invited Crassus to their resistance until there were only 6,000 sur­ negotiate. When Crassus spurned the offer, Spar­ vivors, who were taken prisoner and crucified all tacus decided to make a desperate attempt, and the way along the road from Rome to Capua.

R VIEW QUESTIONS What was the character of slavery under the early Romans? According ro Diodorus Siculus, what was the impact of slavery on the moral character of both masters and slaves? Compare with that of Seneca on page 136. 3. Judging from Appian's account, how would you describe Spartacus' character?

5 Women in Republican Society ....--i..A/ii.­

The status of women in late republican Roman society was considerably better than that of Greek women during the classical age. Like Greek law, Roman law had originally placed each female under the jurisdiction of a male, the paterfa­ milias (literally, "family father"), but Roman women obtained some freedom from male control during the times of the late Republic and the early Empire. Al­ though women never achieved full civil equality and they could not formally par­ ticipate in the political institutions of Rome, they did eventually exercise much practical control over their own property and indirectly exercised political influ­ ence through their husbands, sons, and fathers. Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 117 Quintus Lucretius Vespillo A FUNERAL EULOGY FOR A ROMAN WIFE

Documenting intimate relationships between Roman men and women is difficult because ordinary people were unlikely to write about such things. Although per­ sonal records are scant or now lost, glimpses have survived in the writings of his­ torians and poets or as inscriptions on tombstones. In the late Republic, it became more common for distinguished men to pro­ nounce funeral eulogies for distinguished female as well as male members of their families. One such eulogy was composed by the ex-Consul Quintus Lu­ cretius Vespillo for his wife Turia, who died about 8 B.C. Though marriages among persons of the higher social ranks were usually undertaken for political and economic considerations, clearly this couple had gone beyond such a formal alliance to achieve a most touching love.

Before the day fixed for our marriage, you were With common prudence we have preserved suddenly left an orphan, by the murder of your all the patrimony which you received from your parents in the solitude of the country.... parents. Intrusting it all to me, you were not Through your efforts chiefly, their death did troubled with the care of increasing it; thus did not remain unavenged.... we share the task of administering it, that I un­ In our day, marriages of such long duration, dertook to protect your fortune, and you to not dissolved by divorce, bur terminated by guard mine.... death alone, are indeed rare. For our union was You gave proofofyour generosity not only to­ prolonged in unclouded happiness for forty­ wards several of your kin, but especially in your one years. Would that it had been my lot to filial devotion.... You brought up in your put an end to this our good fortune and that own home, in the enjoyment of mutual bene­ I as the older-which was more just-had fits, some young girls of your kinship. And yielded to fate. that these might attain to a station in life wor­ Why recall your inestimable qualities, your thy of our family, you provided them with modesty, deference, affability, your amiable dis­ dowries.... position, your faithful attendance to the house­ lowe you no less a debt than Cesar Augus­ hold duties, your enlightened religion, your tus [27 B.C.-A.D. 14, emperor of Rome} him­ unassuming elegance, the modest simplicity self, for this my return from exile to my native and refinement of your manners? Need I speak land. For unless you had prepared the way for of your attachment to your kindred, your affec­ my safety, even Cassar's promises of assistance tion for your family-when you respected my had been of no avail. So lowe no less a debt mother as you did your own parents and cared to your loyal devotion than to the clemency for her tomb as you did for that of your own of Czesar, mother and father,-you who share countless Why shall I now conjure up the memory of other virtues with Roman ladies most jealous of our domestic counsels and plans stored away their fair name? These qualities which I claim for in the hidden recesses of the heart?-That, you are your own, equalled or excelled by but aroused by the sudden arrival of messages from few; for the experience of men teaches us how you to a realization of the present and immi­ rare they are. nent perils, I was saved by your counsel? That

.. _._._---- ...... _------­ 118 Part One The Ancient World you suffered me not to be recklessly carried away piness? But an adverse destiny put an end to our by a foolish rashness, or that, when bent on hopes Disconsolate to see me without chil­ more temperate plans, you provided for me a dren you wished to put an end to my chagrin safe retreat, having as sharers in your plans for by proposing to me a divorce, offering to yield my safety, when an exile,-fraught with danger the place to another spouse more fertile, with the as they were for you all,-your sister and her only intention of searching for and providing for husband.... me a spouse worthy of our mutual affection, whose children you assured me you would have treated as your own.... Vespillo then relates what happened to his I will admit that I was so irritated and wife when she begged his enemy M. Lepidus shocked by such a proposition that I had diffi­ to honor her husband's writ of pardon from culty in restraining my anger and remaining Octavian Caesar. master of myself. You spoke of divorce before the decree of fate [death] had forced us to separate, ... Then prostrating yourself at his feet, he and I could not comprehend how you could con­ not only did not raise you up,-but, dragged ceive of any reason why you, still living, should along and abused as though a common slave, not be my wife, you who during my exile had al­ your body all covered with bruises, yet with un­ ways remained most faithful and loyal. ... flinching steadfastness of purpose, you recalled Would that our time of life had permitted our to him Cesar's edict (of pardon) and the letter of union to have endured until I, the older, had felicitation on my return, that accompanied it. passed away-which was more just-and that Braving his taunts and suffering the most brutal you might perform for me the last sad rites and treatment, you denounced these cruelties pub­ that I might have departed, leaving you behind, licly so that he (Lepidus) was branded as the au­ with a daughter to replace me at your side. thor of all my perils and misfortunes. And his By fate's decree your course was run before punishment was not long delayed. mine. You left me the grief, the heart-ache, the Could such courage remain without effect? longing for you, the sad fate to live alone.... Your unexampled patience furnished the occa­ The conclusion of this discourse will be that sion for Cesar's clemency, and, by guarding my you have deserved all, and that I remain with life, he branded the infamous and savage cruelty the chagrin of not being able to give you all. (of the tyrant Lepidus).... Your wishes have always been my supreme law; When all the world was again at peace and the and whatever it will be permitted me to accord Republic reestablished, peaceful and happy days them still, in this I shall not fail. followed. We longed for children, which an envi­ May the gods, the Manes [spirits of dead an­ ous fate denied us. Had Fortune smiled on us in cestors, considered godlike], assure and protect this, what had been lacking to complete our hap- your repose!

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What does Vespillo's eulogy reveal about the virtues a Roman husband might expect in his wife? What duties were expected of a wife? 2. In your opinion, what was Turia's most commendable quality? Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 119

--oAr_6 The Decline of the Republic

In 133 B.C. the Romans effectively controlled all the lands that touched the Mediterranean Sea. The old enemies of Rome, Carthage, and Macedonia had be­ come Roman provinces; the Hellenistic kingdoms of Syria and Egypt were clients of Rome without effective power to challenge Roman hegemony. The Mediter­ ranean Sea had become a "Roman lake." Yet, at the very moment of its imperial supremacy, the internal order and in­ stitutions of the Roman Republic began to break down. The senatorial leaders, who had served Rome responsibly in its march to empire, no longer governed ef­ fectively. The ruling class engaged in shameless corruption in administering the provinces, resorted to bribery and force to maintain control over public offices, and failed to solve the deeply rooted problems that afflicted the state. Triggering the Republic's downhill slide was an agricultural crisis that de­ stroyed the small independent peasant.

Plutarch TIBERIUS GRACCHUS

The wars of expansion had a disastrous effect on Roman agriculture. Hannibal's ravaging of Italian farmlands and the obligatory military service that kept peasants away from their fields for long periods left many small farms in near ruins. The importation of thousands of prisoners of war to work as slaves on large planta­ tions also squeezed small farmers out of business. Sinking ever deeper into debt and po-yerty, many lost their lands and went to Rome, where lack of jobs con­ demned them to permanent poverty. The once sturdy and independent Roman farmer, who had done all that his country had asked ofhim, became part ofa vast urban underclass-poor, embittered, and alienated. Tiberius Gracchus (163-133 B.C.), a scion of one ofRome's most honored fam­ ilies, was distressed by this injustice. Moreover, he realized that small landowners were the backbone ofthe Roman army. Elected tribune (an office created in 493 B.C. to protect plebeian rights), Tiberius Gracchus in 133 B.C. proposed land reforms that the senatorial nobility regarded as a potential menace to their property. They also viewed Tiberius Gracchus as a threat to their political authority. The Roman nobility feared that this popular reformer was building a following among the. commoners in order to undermine senatorial rule and that his real ambition was to subvert republican institutions and to become a tyrant, a one-man ruler. This fear was strengthened when Tiberius, in violation of constitutional custom, an­ nounced that he would seek reelection as tribune. Senatorial extremists killed Tiberius Gracchus and some three hundred of his followers. The Republic had entered an age of political violence that would eventually destroy it. (Tiberius' younger brother, Gaius, became tribune in 123 B.C. and suffered a fate similar to his brother's.) The following account of Tiberius Gracchus is by Plutarch, the second-century Greek biographer. 120 Part One The Ancient World

Of the territory which the Romans won in war disobedience and to have surrendered with from their neighbours, a part they sold, and a payment of a fine the land which they were part they made common land, and assigned it illegally enjoying, these men it merely ordered for occupation to the poor and indigent among to abandon their injust acquisitions upon be­ the citizens, on payment of a small rent into ing paid their value, and to admit into owner­ the public treasury. And when the rich began ship of them such citizens as needed assistance. ro offer larger rents and drove out the poor, a But although the rectification of the wrong was law was enacted forbidding the holding by one so considerate, the people were satisfied to let person of more than five hundred acres of land. bygones be bygones if they could be secure from For a short time this enactment gave a check such wrong in the future; the men of wealth and ro the rapacity of the rich, and was of assis­ substance, however, were led by their greed to tance to the poor, who remained in their places hate the law, and by their wrath and con­ on the land which they had rented and occu­ tentiousness to hate the law-giver, and tried to pied the allotment which each had held from dissuade the people by alleging that Tiberius the outset. But later on the neighbouring rich was introducing a re-distribution of land for the men, by means of fictitious personages, trans­ confusion of the body politic, and was stirring ferred these rentals to themselves, and finally up a general revolution. held most of the land openly in their own But they accomplished nothing; for Tiberius, names. Then the poor, who had been ejected striving to support a measure which was hon­ from their land, no longer showed themselves ourable and just with an eloquence that would eager for military service, and neglected the have adorned even a meaner cause, was formida­ bringing up of children, so that soon all Italy ble and invincible, whenever, with the people was conscious of a dearth of freemen, and was crowding around the rostra [speaker's plat­ filled with gangs of foreign slaves, by whose aid forms}, he took. his stand there and pleaded for the rich cultivated their estates, from which the poor. "The wild beasts that roam over Italy," they had driven away the free citizens. An at­ he would say, "have everyone of them a cave or tempt was therefore made to rectify this evil, lair to lurk in; bar the men who fight and die for and by Caius Laelius- the comrade of Scipio; but Italy enjoy the common air and light, indeed, the men of influence opposed his measures, and but nothing else; houseless and homeless they he, fearing the disturbance which might ensue, wander about with their wives and children. desisted, and received the surname of Wise or And it is with lying lips that their irnperarors­ Prudent [for the Latin word "sapiens" would exhort the soldiers in their battles to defend seem to have either meaning}. Tiberius, how­ sepulchres and shrines from the enemy; for not a ever, on being elected tribune of the people, man of them has an hereditary altar, not one of rook the matter directly in hand .... all these many Romans an ancestral tomb, but He did not, however, draw up his law by him­ they fight and die to support others in wealth self, but took counsel with the citizens who were and luxury, and though they are styled masters foremost in virtue and reputation.... of the world, they have not a single clod of earth ... And it is thought that a law dealing that is their own." with injustice and rapacity so great was never Such words as these, the product of a lofty drawn up in milder and gentler terms. For men spirit and genuine feeling, and falling upon the who ought to have been punished for their ears of a people profoundly moved and fully aroused to the speaker's support, no adversary of Tiberius could successfully withstand. 'Caius Laelius Sapiens, a leading military hero in the Third Punic War and a close friend of Scipio Aemilianus, the con­ queror ofCarrhage, attempted unsuccessfully to resettle the 2First, a commander, general, or caprain in the army, later poor on public land. imperato« meant "emperor." Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 121

Cicero JUSTIFYING CAESAR'S ASSASSINATION

In the century following the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 B.C., the Republic was torn by conspiracies to seize the state, civil wars, assassinations, mob violence, and confiscations of property by political opponents. In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), a talented and ambitious commander, marched on Rome. After defeating the Senate's forces, he was appointed dictator for ten years. A creative statesman, Caesar introduced reforms to resolve the grievances of Romans and provincials. Some senators feared that Caesar aimed to establish a typi­ cal Hellenistic monarchy over Rome with himself as absolute king. The very word king was abhorrent to patriotic Romans, who gloried in their status as free citizens of a five-centuries-old republic. Finally, on the Ides (the fifteenth) of March, 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was slain by some sixty senators, who acted, they said, to restore the liberty of the Roman people. Their leaders were Marcus Junius Brutus (82-42 B.C.) and Gaius Cassius (d. 42 B.C.), both of whom Caesar had previously pardoned. In the following reading from On Duties, Cicero, who was not one of the as­ sassins, justifies the killing of Caesar.

Our tyrant deserved his death for having made morally right to be king in a state that once was an exception of the one thing that was the black­ free and that ought to be free now, and yet imag­ est crime of all. Why do we gather instances of ines that it is advantageous for him who can petty crime-legacies criminally obtained and reach that position, with what remonstrance or fraudulent buying and selling? Behold, here you rather with what appeal should I try to tear him have a man who was ambitious to be king of the away from so strange a delusion? For, oh ye im­ Roman People and master of the whole world; mortal gods! can the most horrible and hideous and he achieved it! The man who maintains that of all murders-that of fatherland-bring ad­ such an ambition is morally right is a madman; vantage to anybody, even though he who has for he justifies the destruction of law and liberty committed such a crime receives from his en­ and thinks their hideous and detestable suppres­ slaved fellow-citizens the title of "Father of his sion glorious. But if anyone agrees that it is not Country"?

Sallust MORAL DETERIORATION

In the dark days ofthe Republic after the assassination ofJulius Caesar in 44 B.C., the Roman politician and historian Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus, 86--35 B.C.) reflected on the causes of the Republic's collapse. In his account of a failed coup d'etat that occurred in 63 B.C., Sallust contrasted the virtues of the early Republic with the moral decline that set in after the destruction ofCarthage. Having failed 122 Part One The Ancient World

to be elected consul in 63 B.C., Catiline, a Roman noble, organized a conspiracy to seize the state. The coup d'etat was thwarted by the vigorous action of the consul Cicero, who arrested the known conspirators and had them executed. Catiline, who led an army against the forces loyal to the government, was defeated and killed.

In peace and war [in the early Republic}, as I would pay them, and to put on the semblance of have said, virtue was held in high esteem. The clos­ virtues that they had not. At first these vices grew est unity prevailed, and avarice was a thing almost slowly and sometimes met with punishment; later unknown. Justice and righteousness were upheld on, when the disease had spread like a plague, not so much by law as by natural instinct. They Rome changed: her government, once so just and quarrelled and fought with their country's foes; be­ admirable, became harsh and unendurable. tween themselves the citizens contended only for honour. In making offerings to the gods they Reflecting on the last stages of the Repub­ spared no expense; at home they lived frugally and lic's decline, Sallust believed that men had never betrayed a friend. By combining boldness in learned a most dangerous lesson: that they war with fair dealing when peace was restored, they could gain power and wealth through vio­ protected themselves and the state. There are con­ lence and corruption rather than through virtue and self-restraint. vincing proofs of this. In time of war, soldiers were often punished for attacking against orders or for being slow to obey a signal of recall from battle, Never in its history-it seems to me-had the whereas few ever ventured to desert their standards empire of Rome been in such a miserable plight. or to give ground when hard pressed. In peace, they From east to west all the world had been van­ governed by conferring benefits on their subjects, quished by her armies and obeyed her will; at not by intimidation; and when wronged they home there was profound peace and abundance would rather pardon than seek vengeance. of wealth, which mortal men esteem the chiefest Thus by hard work and just dealing the power of blessings. Yet there were Roman citizens ob­ of the state increased. Mighty kings were van­ stinately determined to destroy both themselves quished, savage tribes and huge nations were and their country. In spite of two senatorial de­ brought to their knees; and when Carthage, Rome's crees, not one man among all the conspirators rival in her quest for empire, had been annihilated was induced by the promise of reward to betray [in 146 B.C.}, every land and sea lay open to her. It their plans, and not one deserted from Catiline's was then that fortune turned unkind and con­ camp. A deadly moral contagion had infected all founded all her enterprises. To the men who had their minds. And this madness was not confined so easily endured toil and peril, anxiety and adver­ to those actually implicated in the plot. The sity, the leisure and riches which are generally re­ whole of the lower orders, impatient for a new garded as so desirable proved a burden and a curse. regime, looked with favour on Catiline's enter­ Growing love of money, and the lust for power prise. * In this they only did what might have which followed it, engendered every kind of evil. been expected of them. In every country paupers Avarice destroyed honour, integrity, and every envy respectable citizens and make heroes of un­ other virtue, and instead taught men to be proud principled characters, hating the established or­ and cruel, to neglect religion, and to hold nothing der of things and hankering after innovation; too sacred to sell. Ambition tempted many to be discontented with their own lot, they are bent on false, to have one thought hidden in their hearts, general upheaval. Turmoil and rebellion bring another ready on their tongues, to become a man's friend or enemy not because they judged him wor­ *This surely cannot have been true. Sallust must be exag­ thy or unworthy but because they thought it gerating the popular support for the conspiracy. Chapter 4 The Roman Republic 123 them carefree profit, since poverty has nothing to and the curtailment of their civil rights, looked lose. forward with no less sanguine expectations to The city populace were especially eager to fling what might result from the coming struggle. themselves into a revolutionary adventure. There Moreover, all the factions opposed to the Senate were several reasons for this. To begin with, those would rather see the state embroiled than accept who had made themselves conspicuous anywhere their own exclusion from political power. by vice and shameless audacity, those who had Such was the evil condition by which, after an in­ wasted their substance by disgraceful excesses, terval of some years, Rome was once more afflicted. and those whom scandalous or criminal conduct After the restoration of the power of the tribunes in had exiled from their homes-all these had the consulship of Pompey and Crassus,*2 this very poured into Rome till it was like a sewer. Many, important office was obtained by certain men whose remembering Sulla's victory;' and seeing men who youth intensified their natural aggressiveness. These had served under him as common soldiers now tribunes began to rouse the mob by inveighing risen to be senators, or so rich that they lived as against the Senate, and then inflamed popular pas­ luxuriously as kings, began to hope that they too, sion still further by handing out bribes and if they took up arms, might find victory a source promises, whereby they won renown and influence of profit. Young men from the country, whose for themselves. They were strenuously opposed by labour on the farms had barely kept them from most of the nobility, who posed as defenders of the starvation, had been attracted by the private and Senate but were really concerned to maintain their public doles available at Rome, and preferred an own privileged position. The whole truth-to put it idle city life to such thankless toil. These, like all in a word-is that although all disturbers of the the rest, stood to gain by public calamities. It is no peace in this period put forward specious pretexts, wonder, therefore, that these paupers, devoid of claiming either to be protecting the rights of the moral scruple and incited by ambitious hopes, people or to be strengthening the authority of the should have held their country as cheap as they Senate, this was mere pretence: in reality,every one held themselves. Those also to whom Sulla's vic­ of them was fighting for his personal aggrandize­ tory had brought disaster by the proscription of ment. Lacking all self-restraint, they [stopped] at their parents, the confiscation of their property, nothing to gain their ends, and both sides made ruthless use of any successes they won. lLucius Cornelius Sulla (c. 138-78 B.C.) was a successful politician and general, whose rivalry wirh another politi­ cian and general, Gaius Marius (c. 155-86 B.C.), led to *In 70 B.C. civil war. Afrer seizing Rome and massacring his oppo­ 2Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius, 106-48 B.C.) and Crassus nents, Sulla made himself dictator and increased the (Marcus Licinius Crassus, c. 115-53 B.C.) held the office of power of the aristocratic senate, suppressing the office consul in 55 H.C. In 59 B.C., together with Julius Caesar, of tribune of the people. The latter had been used by rhey had formed a political alliance called a triumvirate Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, among others (see page 119), (meaning "group of three men"), which dominated Roman ;, to better rhe condition of the poorer classes. government for the next decade. ,- :;.'

REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What factors created a socioeconomic class struggle in the late Roman Republic? 2. According to Plutarch, what was the reaction of the senatorial order to the reforms proposed by Tiberius Gracchus? 3. Why did Cicero consider Caesar guilty of "the blackest crime of all"? 4. To what virtues did Sallust attribute the grearness of Rome? 5. What vices did Sallust believe could ruin a great state? Does his analysis have any contemporary significance?

' . ...lliILI'